At a 7-11 comfort retailer in Taiwan, you’ll select up a 4-inch plushie of Miffy, the bunny personality from the Netherlands, a mini bento field appeal entire with a practical hen drumstick, or a tiny plastic rotary telephone. Produced via iCash Company (a 7-11 associate), those keychains are extra than simply trinkets: Every comprises a contactless chip that connects it to Taiwan’s elaborate stored-value fee machine.
iCash playing cards, at the side of the ones made via competition like EasyCard and iPASS, can be utilized to trip the subway and buses, in addition to to make purchases at comfort retail outlets and different outlets in Taiwan. The over-the-top branded keychains, which value any place from $10 to over $30, generate modest direct gross sales. However their actual cost lies of their advertising and marketing energy, drawing consumers deeper into 7-11’s rewards ecosystem and retaining small bills inside of its orbit.
Decentralized and Deeply Native
Over the last decade, iCash Company and its opponents have grew to become dozens of on a regular basis merchandise in Taiwan into limited-edition keychains. Many are miniature variations of snacks and home goods to be had at 7-11 retail outlets, comparable to a can of the sports activities drink Tremendous Supau, a tube of Darlie toothpaste, and a cup of Uni-President’s vintage yellow pudding dessert. Those that want one thing more odd can get a teeny package deal of bathroom tissues, or a doll-sized Scotch-Brite kitchen sponge. Once I lived in Taipei for a couple of months remaining 12 months, I paid for issues with a bag of crinkle-cut potato chips.
iCash Company has additionally authorized Sanrio characters like Hi Kitty and Cinnamoroll, in addition to Pikachu from Pokémon and Sew from Disney’s Lilo & Sew. One in every of my favourite Taiwanese fee playing cards isn’t even a keychain in any respect—it’s a plastic model of Sailor Moon’s wand made via EasyCard, which (naturally) lighting up while you entire a transaction.
I’ve been obsessive about those keychains and novelty toys since I started reporting on Taiwan a number of years in the past. They’re essentially the most pleasant facet impact of the island’s transfer towards cashless bills, they usually show simply how other Taiwan’s virtual infrastructure is from China’s. Just about each and every client transaction in China occurs thru both Alibaba or Tencent, two tech giants that experience a close to monopoly on bills. Whether or not you’re purchasing a bowl of noodles at a boulevard stall or a clothier handbag in a Shanghai boutique, you’ll nearly at all times to find each an Alipay and WeChat Pay QR code.
Against this, Taiwan has evolved a pluralistic community of NFC playing cards and cell wallets layered atop its dense transit machine and community of comfort retail outlets. The result’s a cashless framework this is tactile, decentralized, and deeply native. In Taipei, other people frequently “faucet” to pay, whilst in Beijing, they “scan.” A minimum of in many ways, Taiwan’s era is arguably simply as refined as China’s. If truth be told, Alibaba adopted the island’s lead remaining 12 months and introduced its personal faucet fee approach.
